TITANIC in Court

Click HERE to read all that transpired at the inquiry.

When word reached Washington D.C. that the TITANIC sank, they decided to have an inquiry to make some sense of what happened that night. A couple of nights before the Carpathia was to arrive with the TITANIC survivors, a telegram was sent to the White Star Line office in New York to have a ship ready to take him and the crew to England after they land. It was signed, Yamsi. It doesn't take a mad scientist to figure out that this is the name Ismay spelled backwards. Senator William Smith of Michigan came out to New York and decided to hold the inquiry the day after the Carpathia landed. As soon as the Carpathia landed, a warrant was issued for some certain passengers and crew to appear at the Astoria Hotel for questioning. However, Ismay the owner of the ship was met by the senator and other men and escorted by car to the Astoria Hotel where he would stay the night and appear in the lobby the following morning. The inquiry lasted 18 days and some witnesses were recalled two or three times. All the officers, some crew-members, Ismay, and some of the most important men and women were called up to the stand. The newspapers published the dirt about everyone and mostly Ismay. When the American Inquiry was done, the British set up an inquiry of it's own and nearly all of those that returned to England, were called up to another stand. That lasted 36 days! Each day had a new questioner or examiner. The inquiry has helped greatly. Without those testimonies, there would still be a lot of questions unanswered.